Americans United - Pew Forum On Religion & Public Lifehttps://www.au.org/tags/pew-forum-on-religion-public-life
enIf At First You Don’t Succeed?: Religious Right Calls For Revival As Number Of U.S. Christians Declineshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-religious-right-calls-for-revival-as-number
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Here’s an important question the fundamentalists failed to consider: Why are people leaving their churches?</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>With the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans on the rise, the Religious Right is searching for a magic formula that will convert more people to fundamentalism. As far as two organizations are concerned, the solution lies in doubling down on the same old fiery, hateful rhetoric the Religious Right has employed for years.</p><p>As <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/adding-up-the-nones-changing-us-religious-landscape-likely-to-affect-church">reported last week</a>, the Pew Research Center’s latest Religious Landscape Study found that roughly 56 million Americans now identify as agnostic, atheist or “nothing in particular.” That’s more than 22 percent of the population, and represents a jump of almost 7 percent from Pew’s last survey.</p><p>While the “nones” recently gained in number, Christianity has mostly seen a decline in the United States over the same period. The faith still comprises 70 percent of the population, but mainline traditions – including the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – are down sharply. According to Pew, these churches lost anywhere from 3 million to 7.3 million members from 2007-2014.</p><p>Some conservative churches are seeing a drop too. The Religious Right is understandably disturbed by these developments, and is already hard at work to reverse this trend. But instead of developing any sort of innovative ideas, or attempting to understand the reasons behind changing times, fundamentalists are doubling down on the same talking points they’ve employed for decades.</p><p>The American Family Association, classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, blames the media and says more of the same is answer.</p><p>“While these numbers are discouraging, they’re unfortunately not surprising,” AFA President Tim Wildmon said in a statement. “We can point to our social hot-button issues and where they are heading in terms of morality and a biblical worldview. Likewise, our mainstream media and entertainment reflect a culture in which faith has taken a back seat, if it’s not thrown from the bus completely. And our nation’s laws and public policies – including those pertaining to abortion, religious liberties and the protection of marriage between one man and one woman – are skewed to a relativistic bent.</p><p>“Christians around the country must pray that America will return to God’s Word for leadership and guidance,” Wildmon added, “rather than relying on our own cultural wants, needs and agendas.”</p><p>The Pennsylvania-based American Pastors Network (APA), which refreshingly claims to be non-partisan, but sadly wants policy decisions to be informed by its interpretation of the Bible, said pastors must dial up their rhetoric to stem the rising tide of religious indifference.</p><p>“These statistics should alarm every Christian in America, yet they should serve to motivate every pastor and Christian to greater biblical obedience,” APA head Sam Rohrer said in a press release. “In the early Church, Christians ‘turned the world upside down’ because their faith in Jesus Christ had been put to the test and they experienced firsthand the transformative impacts of the Gospel and unconquerable power of the truth of God’s Word. Our nation is in desperate need of pastors and Christians with the early Church’s passion.” </p><p>Here’s an important question the fundamentalists failed to consider: Why are people leaving their churches?</p><p>Many observers believe that the Religious Right <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/january-2008-church-state/au-bulletin/americans-reject-pulpit-politicking-new-poll">efforts to politicize churches</a> have resulted in backlash, led by young people. Fundamentalist attempts to push one narrow brand of faith in public institutions <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/177401/support-daily-prayer-schools-dips-slightly.aspx">consistently draw mixed reviews</a>. And when it comes to same-sex marriage, Americans <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/05/19/408009627/60-percent-record-number-of-americans-support-same-sex-marriage-in-poll">increasingly support it</a> despite the stiff resistance employed by the far right.</p><p>The fundamentalist message has not changed in decades. Americans have heard it loud and clear because, frankly, it was pretty hard to miss. And the result is millions of people have turned away from organized religion because they’re tired of being force-fed ideas that they don’t support. </p><p>Make no mistake, the Religious Right is not dead. In fact, Pew reported that Evangelical Protestants have added approximately 2 million members (though groups like the Southern Baptist Convention have declined). We can expect that the more public opinion conflicts with fundamentalist dogma, the harder the Religious Right will fight back. Even if the Religious Right were in its death throes, history shows this is not the sort of group that will exit the field quietly.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-family-association">American Family Association</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/southern-poverty-law-center">Southern Poverty Law Center</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tim-wildmon">Tim Wildmon</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/american-pastors-network">American Pastors Network</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sam-rohrer">Sam Rohrer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pew-forum-on-religion-public-life">Pew Forum On Religion &amp; Public Life</a></span></div></div>Wed, 20 May 2015 14:40:16 +0000Simon Brown11128 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-religious-right-calls-for-revival-as-number#commentsNew Poll Suggests More Americans Want To See Religion Mixed With Politicshttps://www.au.org/church-state/november-2014-church-state/people-events/new-poll-suggests-more-americans-want-to-see
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Nearly half of Americans believe religion should play a bigger role in U.S. politics, a recent poll showed.</p><p>A study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life Project found 49 percent of respondents want to see houses of worship express their views on political and social issues. That was a 5 percent uptick from the last time this survey was taken, in 2010.</p><p>The same poll also found 41 percent of Americans believe political leaders do “too little” when it comes to praying and expressing their religious faith. The last survey found only 37 percent of respondents felt that way.</p><p>The poll also found an increase in the number of people who say they believe churches should be allowed to endorse candidates for office. Thirty-two percent now feel that way, even though such partisan activity is a violation of the federal tax code’s prohibition against campaign intervention by houses of worship.</p><p>Pew also asked about same-sex marriage and found that 49 percent said they support it while 41 percent expressed opposition. (Other polls have shown higher rates of support for marriage equality.)</p><p>The poll also found a divide in how Americans view the political parties and religion. Forty-seven percent of respondents said the Republican Party is “friendly toward religion,” as opposed to just 29 percent for the Democrats. But that doesn’t mean the Religious Right is completely happy with the GOP; 34 percent of white evangelicals said Republicans have “not done a good job of representing their views on abortion because the party is too liberal.”</p><p>In its analysis of the results, Pew said there is an increasing gap between religious and non-religious Americans.</p><p>“The findings reflect a widening divide between religiously affiliated Americans and the rising share of the population that is not affiliated with any religion (sometimes called the ‘nones’),” Pew said. “The public’s appetite for religious influence in politics is increasing in part because those who continue to identify with a religion (e.g., Protestants, Catholics and others) have become significantly more supportive of churches and other houses of worship speaking out about political issues and political leaders talking more often about religion. The ‘nones’ are much more likely to oppose the intermingling of religion and politics.”</p><p>“It’s not easy to understand what’s in people’s heads when they hear these questions,” AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn told CNN. “If the question was ‘Should your local church be able to share views on abortion and maintain tax exemption?’ you might get a more nuanced response.”</p></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">People &amp; Events</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-ballot-initiatives">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Ballot Initiatives</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/lobbying-by-churches-and-religious-groups">Lobbying by Churches and Religious Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-cs-issue field-type-node-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Magazine Issue:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><article id="node-10638" class="node node-church-state-issue clearfix">
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</div></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pew-forum-on-religion-public-life">Pew Forum On Religion &amp; Public Life</a></span></div></div>Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:00:47 +0000Timothy Ritz10656 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/church-state/november-2014-church-state/people-events/new-poll-suggests-more-americans-want-to-see#commentsMissing Church: Penchant For Politics May Be Sending Congregants Out The Doorhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/missing-church-penchant-for-politics-may-be-sending-congregants-out-the
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Religious Right activists may feel that time is running out, and they may be trying to maximize their power while they can. That means we can’t just sit back, look at these numbers and wait for the Religious Right to become extinct.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Nearly one in five adults in the United States say they have no religious affiliation.</p><p><a href="http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx">This survey finding</a>, released by the Pew Forum on Religion &amp; Public Life, is pretty significant. In 2007, 15.6 percent of adults said they had no religious affiliation, and that number has grown by about 1 percent each year. It hit 19.6 percent in 2012.</p><p>Pew said the number of “nones” has a lot to do with age. One-third of adults under age 30 have no religious affiliation, compared with just 10 percent who are 65 and up.</p><p>These figures have to be pretty scary for the Religious Right, which tries its darndest to turn churches into cogs in partisan political machines. Perhaps it is this very tactic, however, that has driven younger people away from organized religion.</p><p>Pew found 80 percent of adults “never doubt” the existence of God. But that isn’t keeping these Americans from dropping their religious affiliations.</p><p>What’s the explanation? A separate poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion <a href="http://www.au.org/church-state/september-2012-church-state/editorial/pulpits-and-partisan-politics-the-american-people">found that 67 percent of the unaffiliated</a> believe churches and other religious institutions are too involved with politics.</p><p>David Campbell, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/10/09/162582670/young-nones-set-to-transform-the-political-landscape">told NPR that the politicization of churches is likely the reason many folks are leaving organized religion.</a></p><p>“There is considerable evidence suggesting that the 'nones' have actually been caused by politics,” said Campbell, co-author of <em>American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.</em> “Many people have pulled away from the religious label due to the mingling of religion and conservative politics.”</p><p>So when the Alliance Defending Freedom and its cronies push pastors into partisan politics with stunts like “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” they are also pushing congregants out the door.</p><p>And where are they going? To the Religious Right’s dismay, many are lining up with the Democratic Party. Pew found that the majority of the religiously unaffiliated are Democrats or at least lean liberal.</p><p>All of this may have the Religious Right running scared, but it could also explain why there has been such a major push in recent years for all sorts of fundamentalist-friendly legislation – from “personhood” bills to gay marriage bans to “religious freedom” amendments that would strip constitutional safeguards.</p><p>Religious Right activists may feel that time is running out, and they may be trying to maximize their power while they can. That means we can’t just sit back, look at these numbers and wait for the Religious Right to become extinct. Bad bills that become law now will have an impact far into the future, so we must stop them today.</p><p>It’s fantastic to think that the foes of religious freedom could have numbered days, but until the Religious Right is truly gone, we must not take too much comfort in statistics.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/descriptions-and-activities-religious-right-groups">Descriptions and Activities of Religious Right Groups</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/alliance-defending-freedom">Alliance Defending Freedom</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pew-forum-on-religion-public-life">Pew Forum On Religion &amp; Public Life</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/david-campbell">David Campbell</a></span></div></div>Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:56:41 +0000Simon Brown7626 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/missing-church-penchant-for-politics-may-be-sending-congregants-out-the#commentsAmen Averse: Record Number Of Americans Want Less Religion In Politicshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/amen-averse-record-number-of-americans-want-less-religion-in-politics
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s no secret that politicians work hard to stay “on message” during a campaign, but it’s clear that some candidates have played the faith card too many times.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>It seems that Americans have heard just about enough about religion in political campaigns. </p><p>A new <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/more-see-too-much-religious-talk-by-politicians.aspx#church">survey</a> released by the Pew Forum On Religion &amp; Public Life found that 38 percent of Americans said politicians have spent too much time expressing their religious faith and praying. That’s up from 2010, when 29 percent of Americans said there was too much religious expression by political leaders.</p><p>According to Pew, “[t]he number saying there has been too much religious talk from political leaders now stands at its highest point since the Pew Research Center began asking the question more than a decade ago.”</p><p>The survey even found that there has been an increase in this sentiment across party lines.</p><p>The biggest spike came from people who identify as Democrats, 46 percent of whom said politicians talk too much about faith (up from 32 percent in 2010). Dissatisfaction is also growing among people who identify as Republicans, 24 percent of whom said candidates spend too much time on religion. In 2001, only 8 percent of Republicans had the same gripe. </p><p>Among those who identify as Independent, a coveted demographic for both political parties, 42 percent said politicians talk too much about religion, a 6 percent increase from 2010. (In 2001, only 14 percent of Independents thought there was too much emphasis on religion.)</p><p>The Pew survey also asked respondents about how much involvement churches should have in politics. Sixty percent of Democrats, 58 percent of Independents and 44 percent of Republicans said churches should not be involved in politics. </p><p>(It should be noted, however, that respondents were asked if churches and other houses of worship “should stay out of political matters.” The question shouldn’t have been phrased that way, because there’s a big difference between a church endorsing a candidate – which violates federal tax law -- and a church discussing a national political issue, which does not.)</p><p>This survey is yet another example of how out of touch some politicians are with the electorate – and it’s far from the only example. LifeWay Research, which is the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, <a href="http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/candidates-and-religion-voters-want-policy-plans-not-a-profession-of-faith">found</a> that just 16 percent of Americans are more likely to vote for a candidate who speaks regularly about his or her religious beliefs.</p><p>It’s no secret that politicians work hard to stay “on message” during a campaign, but it’s clear that some candidates have played the faith card too many times. The American public is tired of this broken record and wants to hear a new tune. Candidates should be discussing the myriad of problems facing this country, not how often they pray.</p><p>What people really want is a stable economy, more jobs and a better life for themselves and their families. Politicians who spend most of their time talking about how often they pray isn’t doing much to deliver any of those things. </p><p> </p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-groups%E2%80%99-involvement-in-candidate-elections">Religious Groups’ Involvement in Candidate Elections</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pew-forum-on-religion-public-life">Pew Forum On Religion &amp; Public Life</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/lifeway-research-center">LifeWay Research Center</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/southern-baptist-convention">Southern Baptist Convention</a></span></div></div>Thu, 22 Mar 2012 19:17:39 +0000Simon Brown6934 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/amen-averse-record-number-of-americans-want-less-religion-in-politics#comments